IRC news

IRC news #

The IRC world still moves — clients release, projects retire, and every so often something needs patching today. Short entries, newest first. Everything tagged news lands here and in the RSS feed.

2026 #

• July 19 — WeeChat 4.9.4 fixes two serious vulnerabilities — relay users should update now
• July 8 — Textual has been sunset — the macOS mainstay retires after fifteen years
• June 23 — mIRC 7.84 released — year thirty-one, still shipping
• June 8 — Halloy 2026.7 released — with a new Windows installer
• May 20 — The Lounge 4.5 requires Node 22 — check before you upgrade
• January 24 — HexChat dropped from Debian testing — the packaging goodbye begins
• January 10 — Palaver disappears from the App Store — one fewer native iOS client

Older, still relevant #

• February 2024 — HexChat's final release, 2.16.2. The context and the exits: HexChat is dead — what to use instead
• August 2024 — Mibbit shut down. What replaced it: best web IRC clients

Staying current #

The client guides are updated when news warrants it, and each "best clients" page states what was true at its last update. Spotted something we missed? Tell us.